Make Homemade Butter Edible Science Activity for Kids

Bring on the classic science and make homemade butter! This must be one of the most simplest of science projects with no waste because it’s completely edible! We love simple science experiments that provide a wonderful end result. This can be so gratifying for young kids to be able to see and taste the final product of their hard work. Grab your ingredients and get started! You might also want a lot of warm fresh bread on hand for taste testing. Easy science for kids!

MAKE HOMEMADE BUTTER AND EDIBLE SCIENCE FOR KIDS

Sink your teeth into this butter science experiment! Kids love science they can eat, and this quick and easy classic science activity is a no brainer if you want to get the kiddos into the kitchen. Even the younger scientists can help out.

I think this is the perfect science experiment for you to add to your Thanksgiving science lessons or for when the kids want to help out in the kitchen with you. Though you might find you will do a good amount of the shaking.

Homemade butter goes great with warm pumpkin bread, fresh bread, and blueberry muffins. Butter always reminds me of baking goodies, and this science activity is perfect for getting kids in the kitchen!

MAKING BUTTER SCIENCE EXPERIMENT

Glassware with lid {mason jar}

Heavy whipping cream

That’s it! You might even have the ingredient already. You are minutes away from homemade butter!

Fill your glass jar about half way, you need room to shake the cream! Make sure the lid is tight and shake. Making butter requires a bit of arm strength, so you will be trading off with your kids unless you have a house full or classroom full of them!

Check you homemade butter every 5 minutes to see the changes.

After the first 5 minutes, there was no real visible change. At the 10 minute check in mark, we had a whipped cream. There’s no reason you can’t sneak a taste at this point just so they can see what’s happening!

We put the lid back on and kept shaking. After another couple minutes, my son observed that he couldn’t hear the liquid inside very well.

We stopped and check and there it was, the makings of delicious homemade butter. I put the lid back on and finished out the rest of the 15 minutes. Yum!

Smooth, creamy, delicious homemade butter all from shaking cream in a jar! How cool is that for kids.

What’s the science behind homemade butter?

Heavy cream has a good deal of fat in it. That’s why it can make such delicious items. By shaking the cream, the fat molecules begin to separate from the liquid. The more the cream is shaken the more these fat molecules clump together forming a solid which is the butter.

Now we have a great jar full of whipped homemade butter we can use all week long. Baking is also a science! Check out more edible science experiments from us and others on BuzzFeed!

Kitchen science is the coolest and sometimes the tastiest! You can also shake up your own awesome homemade ice cream from just a few simple ingredients.

EASY TO MAKE HOMEMADE BUTTER SCIENCE IS A MUST TRY!

Click on the photos below for more awesome science activities the kids will love!

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Comments

Making butter is fabulous! It’s just like magic, I’m so glad you had fun 🙂

Just so you know, I noticed that in your pictures you still had whipped cream not quite butter. If you had kept going a little longer it would have looked like scrambled eggs, then separated right out into butter and buttermilk (uncultured, it looks like skimmed milk). The butter is solid, yellow and looks like butter you would buy. It’s also delicious! And you can use the buttermilk to bake some bread to serve it on. 🙂

It can be difficult to do that last bit in a jar if the cream all sticks to the sides. Adding a marble to the jar can help, or dump the cream in a bowl and stick your hand in – great sensory experience that way too.

I think what the original commenter meant was that, when you are done, you are SUPPOSED to have liquid (buttermilk) and a chunk of solid butter. I’ve done this experiment dozens of times in my classroom and the last couple minutes are the hardest. What you had in your jar at the end was butter mixed up with whipped cream.

Have been ”aking butter’ for years with my children, grand children, and now the greats! However, no shaking in my method….sit the children on the floor and have them roll the jar back and forth! Works well with just two, or several.